Interesting Facts About Christmas: Celebration Of The Birth Of Jesus Christ

It is the most wonderful time of the year, the day everybody has been waiting for. Christmas Day is celebrated by many Christians throughout the world, often on December 25th.
It’s also a popular holiday celebrated by some non-Christians. Christmas is the period to indulge in the festive spirit and even unleash the jovial and the merry one within you. Whether old, young, male or female, most people wake up with high anticipation of opening gifts left by the fireplace or under the tree from Santa.
Christmas Day is a yearly celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. While the exact date of birth of Jesus Christ is unknown, it’s estimated to have been between seven and two B.C. The date of December 25th was selected in the fourth century.
The holiday season is usually full of traditions, some unique and some shared. The common customs of celebrating Christmas include sending holiday cards, gift-giving, Christmas lights and trees, a feast, caroling, and the church celebrations. However, in some regions of the world, you may find bizarre and strange traditions and customs which would raise an eyebrow or two.
There are very many different elements which contribute to the celebration which we’ve come to know as Christmas: tucking into Christmas feast of the yummy turkey and pudding, hanging up socks and leaving out milk and cookies for Santa, opening gifts under the Christmas trees, and having a good time with friends and family. But have you ever wondered about a number of the things we see and even embrace at Christmas?
Here are some of the most interesting facts about Christmas:
1. The Christmas stocking emerged when 3 unmarried ladies did their laundry and hung their stockings on a chimney to dry. They could not marry; they lacked dowry. But St. Nicholas, who understood their plight, put a sack of gold in every stocking and the next day the three ladies discovered they had enough dowry. They could now marry.
2. The Christmas cards formerly appeared in the England as a way for different students to practice their handwriting. Sir. Henry Cole apparently developed the first Christmas card since he was very busy to write a single note to every loved one in 1843. Currently, more than three billion Christmas cards are sent in the United States each year.
3. The US Postal Service has been answering kid’s letters to Santa for hundred Years. In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock approved the United States Postal Service to respond to kid’s letters to Santa.
By the 1940s, charitable organizations, firms, and other community groups were invited to assist in responding to a high number of letters. According to the US Postal Service, children usually address their letters to the ‘Santa Claus, Alaska, North Pole,’ and most wish Santa a happy birthday.
4. The Christmas colors green, red, and gold all have meaning. Green represents rebirth; red represents the blood of Christ, and the gold represents light and royalty.
5. According to Guinness World Records, the tallest Christmas tree was a 221-foot Douglas fir presented in 1950 at Northgate Shopping Center in the Seattle, Washington and the most expensive, decorated Christmas tree was valued at 11,026,900 dollars and was displayed at Emirates Palace in the Abu, Dhabi, in 2010.
6. In Ukraine, Christmas trees are usually decorated with the fake spiderwebs. It’s believed that seeing a spider web on the Christmas morning brings good luck. This popular belief comes from the story of a poor lady who couldn’t afford to decorate her Christmas tree.
On the Christmas morning, she woke up to find numerous spiders had decorated it with their webs, and when the first rays of sun touched the spider webs, they turned into silver and gold.
7. In the Czech Republic there’s an old superstition that if you fast on the night of the Christmas Eve, you may see a vision of the ‘golden pig.’ If you see this vision, it’ll bring good luck.
8. According to the data analyzed from the Facebook posts, 2 weeks before Christmas is one of the two most common times for the couples to break up. Nonetheless, Christmas Day is the least favorite day for breakups.
9. Christmas isn’t widely celebrated in the Scotland. This is because that the country is mainly Presbyterian, and Christmas is regarded to be a Catholic event.
10. James Pierpont in 1857 composed the song-Jingle Bells. It was originally referred to as ‘One Horse Open Sleigh’ and was made for Thanksgiving.
11. Christmas was illegal in the United States until 1836 since it was regarded an Ancient Pagan Holiday.
12. The Candy Cane is one of the most popular symbols of Christmas. It dated back to 1670 in the Europe but did not appear in the United States until the 1800s. The treat we see nowadays, where the shape is the hook of Jesus to shepherd his lambs and the color as well as stripes hold significance for Christ’s sacrifice and purity, became common in the mid-1900s.
13. The word ‘Christmas’ originates from the words Christ’s Mass. In ancient English (first recorded in 1038) it was called Cristesmæsse that literally means ‘Christian Mass.’